Today I'd like to show you a nail polish we included in our *latest* 'Reasonable Lookalikes' series. It's called 'Iced Eyes Baby' and was released as part of the 'Cristalliced' LE by Essence. It was the only thing I got from said trend edition.

Day 1: In the morning, I apply one coat of my P2 base and then two of this polish, though application was far from troublefree. The brush is all wonky and getting a smooth and even coverage can be a real challenge. A stray fiber coming out of God knows where didn't help either. I topped it with a coat of SV. I may stamp or do some nail art on this later.

Day 4: Even though the mani survived my washing my hair, my right thumb and index nails are chipped and tipwear is also noticeable in the same hand. Not bad, but the brush is a royal piece of *hit, not something I've ever experienced with Essence before.

Here I am again with my nails of the week. This time with the polish #246 from KIKO, which I bought online, as we showed you *here*. I'd describe this shade as burgundy red with multicolour reflections. I love it. I could say it louder, but not clearer.

First day: I apply one coat of Chip Skip from OPI, which María, from 'Todos los esmaltes son pocos' sent us. It leaves a dry feeling on your nails, just like if you had scrubbed them with rubbing alcohol: without shine and with small white marks.

After that I apply two thin coats of this polish, and Seche Vite on top.

I have the vague feeling that the effect isn't so shiny as in other manis, but I don't know if it's due to the polish itself or to Chip Skip, which I used as a base coat.

Today I have a recipe for you using the silicone steam case from Lékué we shared with you *here*. We've done several recipes with it, both sweet and savoury and the truth is we're very pleased with it and are using it on a regular basis. There is nothing worse than having lots of gadgets and stuff you have no use for. Especially if your kitchen is not big by any means. The kitchen at Marian's resemblesPin & Ponplay kitchen.

2.Spread the courgette/zucchini on the steamer. Make sure the veggies cover the bottom of the case. Add salt to taste and a dash of olive oil. Stir so the ingredients are well blended, especially the oil.

4- Beat the eggs in a bowl and set aside. Put a frying pan on the hob, add the courgette/zucchini we've cooked in the steamer and incorporate the eggs. Stir well and until the eggs are done. Remove from heat and serve.We added a touch of sweet paprika.

Even if you don't have this steam case, we encourage you to use your microwave more often. Considering how expensive the electricity bill is getting (and it will probably get even more so), your bank account will certainly appreciate it. And if you don't have much time either, it's a great aid if you want to make a healthy meal.If you have an interesting recipe, feel free to share it.

Here I am another week with my views on the latest news. I'll start with sports for a change, with F1. It poured in Malaysia and 'Magic Alonso' proved once again what a skilled waterman he is, snatching an unexpected victory, which perhaps makes it taste even sweeter. Alonso cooked his win in a low heat, turn by turn, and at times flew on the sodden track. He ended up in P1, thanks to the impeccable pitstop from his Ferrari team. However, it's a pity that Ferrari can only aspire at the moment to win races like this, by pure chance.He was flanked at the podium by the talented Mexican Sergio 'Checo' Pérez and Lewis Hamilton. Massa was lapped by Alonso, which kind of tells it all. Imo, the Ferrari seat has always been too big for him and I doubt he'd be there at all, were it not for the fact that his manager is Jean Todt's son.Räikönnen seems to be in good shape and we may even have him back at the podium soon. That is, as long as he doesn't crash his car.

In a couple of places in Spain, some people had to vote again this last weekend. In Asturias, because the most voted party in the regional elections held a few months ago did not reach an agreement to appoint a cabinet with the rest of parties and will again have to wait until such an agreement is reached to exit the power limbo they are currently in. Considering how expensive running an election is, campaigns and so on, I don't think the people were too pleased.

In Andalusia, bittersweet victory for the People's Party after 30 years of rule by the Socialist Party PSOE. Bittersweet because despite being the most voted political force -by a very narrow margin-, an agreement is expected between the left-wing parties, PSOE and IU to leave the PP out of the regional government.The PP, it seems, did not learn from past mistakes, namely the narrow victory in the 1996 general elections and trusted electoral surveys blindly. A historical victory it is indeed, but for a very narrow margin.A more aggresive campaign strategy would not have come amiss, because seeing the outcome of this weekend's election one wonders if people don't care that fraudulent government subsidies are alledgedly granted to this or that politician's family member or friend using public money *see here* *here* collected from taxes, or that retirement pensions are again alledgedly granted *Mercasevilla case, aka EREgate* to people (read some politician's buddy) who have not worked a single day of their lives -or worse, who claimed to have started working on the very same day they were born. Astonishing, isn't it?

And I thank God for having studied under the now abrogated General Education Act of 1970 and remind you that: 'in Spanish, all verbs ending in -ger and -gir are written with 'G', except 'tejer = weave/knit' and 'crujir = crunch/rustle'and invite you to read the electoral campaign posters the Socialist Party of Andalusia delighted us with during the past elections carefully.They claim a hacker was to blame for the 'kick in the dictionary'. A hacker? Hacker? Hacker... my *ss!. That's a good excuse!! I can see kids using it with their teachers from now on.García Marquéz will be delighted, but as for me... I miss the time when three spelling mistakes equalled a fail grade. And for your own good, you did your best to write well.

After the Christmas holidays, we decided to place a new order at this webshop. This time, it took me a couple of days to complete and process my order, as the site was repeatedly down. A word of warning: you may need lots of patience when ordering there, especially on Sundays from what I've observed.

The order was originally made on 9/Jan/2012, but to the above mentioned problems with the page, the order was not processed and I got a refund the same day I informed them about the problem. The very same day, Feb. 18th, I added another item to my order, which finally arrived on March 21st. The total amount of this second order was 22.32$, because thanks to *this forum*, I could benefit from the coupon code '8%off063', and got a discount of 2.01 USD. I think this coupon code can be used only once.

As with previous orders to this store, we've included both beauty items and other stuff to our shopping basket and will talk a bit about everything next. My order came wrapped in several layers of bubble plastic. The declared value -10 USD- is lower than the real one.

1- Micro SD 4GB memory card: To be used on myReader(as long as I am able to manage to get it out of the official lit case to access the memory slot). It comes with an SD adapter, so you could say this is a 2in1 product. Comes in a small protective case made of thick plastic, as pictured.

3- Placa de estampación imitación M70: No es para mí, pero imagino que funcionará igual de bien que las de Konad y las de Essence, o la de esta misma tienda que pedí hace unos meses.3- Image plate fake M70: It's not for me, but I supppose it will work just as well as those from Konad or Essence plates, or the one I ordered from this store some months ago for that matter.

6- Cartera de aluminio: Pedimos una de estas carteras por Navidad -como las que anuncian en la tele, sólo que una décima parte más baratas- para un regalo, así que ésta es para marox.6- Aluminium wallet: We ordered one of these for Christmas -they're the same as those seen on TV, for only a tenth of the price - for a present and this one is for marox.

7- sello + raspador para estampación: Al igual que la placa, no es para mí, así que no las he probado pero son similares a los del kit de Essence -aunque el raspador es de plástico, no metálico, así que incluso mejor.7- stamper+scraper for nail art stamping: Just like the plate, it's not for me so I haven't tried them but these are similar to the one that comes with the Essence stamping kit for instance -though the scraper is made of plastic and not metal, which is even better.

8- 4 AAA-sized rechargeable batteries: For the light in the Sony PRS-T1 official lit case, which after a short test I discovered can work with these type of batteries. Waay cheaper than those available at the local stores. Unfortunately, this is the only 'but' regarding my order: I ordered AAA batteries (the smallest ones) and got AA instead (the standard ones). I notified BIC about this, but will keep them anyway as I can use these for other things, like my digital camera. Both my Olympus SP-500 UZ and my Samsung ES-10 carry these AA batteries. BIC offered to refund 0.50 USD as compensation.

Day 1: At night, I apply a coat of the ridge-filling base from Essence that we got from María. I apply one coat of this polish and topped it with another one of SV. Coverage is excellent and the formula is perfect too. Though pricewise it is not as cheap as Essence or Catrice, Douglas does sometimes have sales and discounts no matter if you have their club card or not, so you can always take those chances to treat yourself to a little something.

Day 2: Despite not having done anything special with my hands, in the morning the polish on my right ring finger started to peel off and it leaves me with a huge chip I have to touch up, as it covers half of the nail. Wearwise, I'm indeed disappointed, though perhaps the base used had something to do with it, dunno. A while later, I have to touch up my right middle fingernail. At night the polish on my right thumb peeled off almost completely, like a sticker.

Today we have a cumulated sundry haul with our latest purchases. As you can see below, there's a little bit of everything: some stuff from the Spanish supermarkets *Mercadona*, from Douglas, a couple of Essence goodies, etc. You can read a short comment about each of them after the pic, clockwise.

1- Nail polishes fromClaire'sin the shades 'Airforce Blue' -€ 2.95- (above) and 'Pink Holographic' - €3.50 -(below). Yes, I know that we always say that it's impossible to know about the name of these polishes, because all of them have a number instead of a name, but have a look at the ticket. Ta-dah!

2- Cucumber peel-off mask from 'Montagne Jeunesse', also available from Claire's (and now also Mercadona). We haven't tried anything from this brand yet, in spite of having read favorable reviews on several blogs. Price: 1.95 EUR (but they had a B2G3 and therefore got it for free).

3- Nail polish from CHICOGO (which belongs to Rimmel, apparently) in the shade 'Zeigeist'. We bought them at a street market for... €1 each! It's a very special shade, so we couldn't leave them there, especially not for that price!.

Btw, Marian has come with a new idea for a 'Reasonable Lookalikes' comparison post, so stay tuned.

4- Styling Mousse for Curly Hair from Deliplus: I read some good opinions about this mousse so I grabbed it on my last visit to our nearestMercadonasupermarket. Although she loves the Deliplus styling foam (the one with the fully orange bottle), this mousse is apparently less drying. We're very eager to try it. Price: 2.50 EUR.

5- Baby wipes from Deliplus: Most times we don't use makeup remover wipes but baby wipes to get rid of the bulk of our make-up at the end of the day. We like the fact that they have a hard plastic closure to prevent the wipes from drying out. The ones from Deliplus are generally quite good, though we haven't tried these ones in particular yet. Price: 1.70 EUR.

6- Essence MySkin Soft Cleansing Gel: We tried this thanks toMaría, who btw injured her left hand but hopefully will soon make a full recovery, and liked it enough to complete our daily cleansing routine that we purchased it to keep on using it. We were very tempted by the 4in1 Cleansing Cream, so who knows, maybe we'll get it next time.

7- Essence nail art Stamping set: After a couple of year's wait, our local beauty supplies storeBustillofinally decided to bring the second Essence display, the treatment/nail art one and marox could finally get her hands on the latest set. Pity Essence does not sell the plates that come with all their sets throughout the years separately (and pity they don't release new plates either).

8- Mango and Papaya body butter from Douglas: It's the first time we get one of these and took the plunge thanks to a discount code Marian received from Douglas in an SMS. Although the price is not bad, if we can save some cents, so much the better.*Edit: Retail price is usually 5.95 EUR, but as they had a 20% off in the store, we only paid 4.76 EUR.

¿Habéis probado alguno de estos productos? ¿Habéis comprado cosillas últimamente?Have you tried any of these? Have you bought anything lately?

I haven't written a news blogpost since last year. A lot has happened since then: in Spain, we had general elections with a change of government. Among the appointments of the said government, there have been some surprises and some unexpected names in unexpected positions, etc. Ministerial predictions and bets were not too successful: Alberto Ruiz Gallardón, former mayor of Madrida.k.a. The Pharaohwas not appointed Minister of Defense, as we all expected given his background in the Paratrooper Brigade, but Minister of Justice as explained by his legal training. The same goes for our fellow Zamorana, Ana Pastor, whom everyone expected to have a second mandate as Minister of Health but who was eventually appointed Minister of Public Works and Transport instead.

And even though he was not the person I had in mind (Gustavo de Arístegui was the one), the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel García-Margallo achieved in barely 20 days in office what his forerunners couldn't be bothered to do: seek the freedom of journalist Sebastián Martínez Ferraté, unlawfully imprisoned in Cuba after the broadcast of an exposé about child prostitution in the island commissioned by the Spanish Telecinco channel. Were it not for the interest taken by a former colleague at El Mundo newspaper and also by Javier Algarra, he would be still rotting in some godforsaken Cuban jail, as he declared in his *first interview*. As you can imagine, the self-proclaimed 'friendly channel' that reaped hefty benefits from his work but who left him there to fend him for himself was not the TV station chosen to give his first interview as a free man.

As for myself, I hope Mr. Gallardón does his best to take our Justice in hand, being as it is the opposite of fairness. If you don't believe me, ask the family of *Sandra Palo*, *Marta del Castillo* and many of the defenseless victims left by the misnamed 'Law on Juveniles', behind which you can hide should you rape and kill a 22-year-old girl with mental disabilities or refuse to reveal the location of the body of your former 'bossom friend' in order to protect the s.o.b. of the victim's boyfriend who killed and presumably also raped her.If it's not too much to ask, try not to make the bill too costly, Mr. Gallardón.

I'll put the last stop on my views on the national politics and news to focus on the economic crisis. Let me echo the desperate situation many small businesses in Spain are currently going through. The picture, which you may have seen already, corresponds to the placard created by the owner of a small store in Madrid, Té con Limón(Tea with Lemon) who will soon be forced to close down, literally out of despair. I think he managed to sum um the problem quite well.

Caption: Closeout sale out of despair.

We'd like to Thank the following for helping us: Thanks to the Spanish two-party system.Thanks to political corruption. Thanks to former rulers for their fat annuities. Thanks to the Spanish Confederation of Employers' Organisations (CEOE) for destroying employment.Thanks to Trade Unions for not doing anything.Thanks for increasing our taxes.Thanks for curtailing our rights as citizens.Thanks to Autonomous Regions, County Councils, Town/City Councils, etc.Thanks to all politicians, for their salaries, expenses allowances and privileges.

Thanks for inyecting public money into the financial system.Thanks for forgetting self-employed workers and small businesses.Thanks to Greece for showing us what the future may be like.Thanks for enabling parasitic economic models.Thanks for forcing our children to leave Spain and emigrate.

THANKS TO ALL THE POWERFUL ÉLITE FOR MAKING US FEEL FREER BY LEAVING US WITH OUR PANTS DOWN!

I'll finish this news blog with some sports, with the return of the Formula One championship and some old faces like AbsolutKimi Räikkönen. Also also made the news during the F1 break, with the announcement of his separation from Raquel del Rosario after five years of marriage. Apparently there were rumours going on for some time about a third-party and indeed it seems the Asturian had fallen in love, or lust more like, with a blonde Russian/Swiss model whom I'm afraid will not be as discreet with his personal life as Raquel has always been, a privacy Alonso so dearly craves.Some people are already pointing to a possible reconciliation between the couple, which I'm not that sure about. Anyway, time will tell.

Fuente / Source: Virutasdegoma.Caption: -How do you see it? / -Fine, but if we screw it, Montezemolo will have us sweeping the factory.

Strictly speaking about the races, as seems now the usual with Ferrari, we saw a bad qualifying session on Saturday followed by yet another incredible race from Alonso on Sunday. Ferrari seems to worship St. Alonso while neglecting factory work in Maranello. Even though team RedBull doesn't appear to have such a head start this year, Ferrari had better concentrate on making a super single-seater for a change.

No, this post is not about make-up or travel, which are usual subjects on this blog.

As make-up-holics do also eat ;-), this time we're showing you an item that can make things easier for us in the kitchen; besides, it enables you to eat in a healthier way, because cooking is done with steam, reducing fat in our diet.

On the other side, we could use that thing we have in the kitchen, which we use just for heating the milk for our breakfast and other things up, called microwave.

To be honest, I didn't even know about it. My mother saw it at the household store where she usually buys such things, and suddenly got smitten, lol. So she bought one for her and another one for me.

They come in two different sizes. We both have the smallest one (for 1-2 people). My mother bought the biggest one at first (for 3 people), but when she got home, she realized that it was too big for her microwave (it couldn't turn around), so she had to go back to the store and change it for the smaller sized one.

What kind of meals can we cook on it? Well, lots of things. I used to think that only vegetables or fish could be cooked in it, but you can prepare many other things. For example, Spanish omelette comes out delicious (cooked just with a small trickle of olive oil, btw).

If you want to know more about this steam case, have a look at theirwebsite, where you'll find lots of recipes. You can also check out *this* YouTube channel. If you have any cool recipes with it, please leave them below.

I'm
back with another book review. This time I opted for the translated
Spanish version of 'The Friday Night Knitting Club' , a novel written by
and for women. You can read the first chapter on the author's website *here*.

Georgia
Walker is now a happy woman. But things have not always been easy for
her. Twelve years ago, she was dumped when pregnant by her boyfriend
James, who left her for France. He's returned now and is set on winning
Georgia's affection again and being a devoted father to his now teenage
daughter... Thanks to the advice of a trusted friend, Georgia is now the
proud owner of Walker and Daughter, a pretty yarn store in NYC. The
shop is also home to a knitting club, providing knitting lessons and a
meeting point for a really mixed audience every Friday. Joined by their
common interest, they slowly let go of their innermost wishes, fears and
passions.

I
quite enjoyed this novel, full of characters easy to sympathize with:
Georgia, the yarn store owner; Dakota, her teenage daughter and wannabe
confectioner; Anita, a well-off widow and Georgia's mentor as well as
some of their customers. The book is a page turner and before I realised
I'd reached the end, which btw, took me entirely by surprise.

Kate
Jacobs has written several follow-up novels on the lives of several
characters introduced in this book and I may read those in the future.

The truth is we were very eager to visit Ikea, though we did not know whether we'd like it or not. What I mean is that until now, every time we thought about Ikea we were reminded of those minimalistic, rock-hard sofas, that are a common feature in bedsits, you know.

Well, it was nothing like that. Ikea is a lot more than simple furniture. One thing we liked very much is that they have recreated 'real life' flats (unlike the mansions you sometimes see on TV and in some home and lifestyle magazines). Getting ideas on how to furnish and decorate your home is much more easy that way. All the spaces were so lovingly furnished we would have emptied the store, but we were very restrained.

A few days prior to her visit, Marian had a scout around the website and made a list with the things she liked. It's very important to avoid buying stuff for the sake of buying. And it was very easy to be tempted, with all the nice stuff they had.And she came back with a few things, mainly for storage but with a few other goodies as well.

Well, one of the things I had on my wishlist for Ikea was this clothes' hanger scarf organizer. The rings it has are much bigger than those on the one I made. This way I can store bigger scarves I couldn't put on the other organizer.

All ideas about storage are very welcome, so I also bought this clothes' hanger, on which you can hang 5 pairs of trousers/jeans. It's great when you have too much clothing, but not so much space in your wardrobe.

I also bought these organizers; in this case, to store magazines. I like keeping the ones about decoration which I used to buy when we visit those fantastic places when we travel abroad. I bought 2 packs of two, but I've opened just one of them.

These ones have been all our purchases (and gifts) so far. About the purchases, I'm afraid they won't be the last ones. We liked Ikea so much that we promise to go back. But this time we'll do it together.

Now we leave you with some pics for you to get an idea of what you can find there. I hope you like them.